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"His lord said to him, 'Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.'"
(Matthew 25:21)
The first message I preached after taking eight weeks off was the funeral sermon for my friend, Pastor James Tisdel. James was a godly man who lived to be 82 years old and served God faithfully as the pastor of several Southern Baptist churches. When he was only 25 years old, he and his wife, Myrtle Lee, and their three children were in a horrible car accident that took the life of his wife and son, Mark. James and his two daughters, Myra and Jeanie, survived the accident. I will never forget him telling me about holding his son in his arms as he died. I cannot imagine the horror and shock of such an event. But James kept faithfully serving the Lord and trusting Him. James later met Peggy at Southwestern Seminary in Fort Worth, TX. They married and had two sons, Tim and Matt. Pastor James Tisdel lived a life pleasing to God.
James also lived to be missed. Jeanie shared with me that her father "was a soul-winner, and that is how he lived his life." She said because of the influence of their dad, she and her siblings always knew the importance of eternity. That is powerful.
Do you live to be missed? When you die, what will the pastor say at your funeral? Jesus told a powerful parable about an employer who left his employees with a sum of money to be invested. Two of the men invested well and doubled their employer's money. The last employee was lazy and had nothing to give his employer upon his return. He was rebuked while the first two received praise from their boss.
If you focus on what Jesus taught and implement it in your life, then you will live a life pleasing to God, and you will indeed be missed by many when God takes you home. Here are three truths from Jesus for you to apply to your own life: do good, be faithful, and serve others.
1. Do Good.
Jesus calls the profitable employees in His parable "good". The Greek word is agathos, and has the following definitions: "good, pleasant, agreeable, joyful, happy, excellent, distinguished, upright, honourable" (BlueletterBible.org).
One of the nine fruits of the Holy Spirit is goodness. The Greek word is very similar: agathosyne. A good man or woman is someone who does the right things. The first two employees in Jesus' story made wise choices and acted upon those choices, and thereby, they did what was good and proper.
I cannot imagine the countless good deeds James Tisdel did as a pastor of the churches in which he served. Some of those were most likely noticed and appreciated by many, but I am sure James performed many good deeds of kindness and help that only the Lord saw. But in heaven, all is remembered, and rewards are distributed based on the good deeds done on earth.
Tomorrow we will look further into this subject of living your life so well that you are actually missed and mourned when you slip into eternity.
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